December 3

APPARATUS OF THE COUNCIL OF PEOPLE'S COMMISSARS, COUNCIL OF LABOR AND DEFENSE, AND PEOPLE'S COMMISSARIATS

9373

LETTER ON THE APPLICATION OF "LIVING CONNECTION"*.

Comrades Epukidze, Karpinsky, Dzerzhinsky, Zalutzky, Mikhailov, Molotov

December 3, 1921

Dear Comrade!

From the practice of the reception office of the Council of People's Commissars on complaints and petitions, it has become clear that in especially serious and urgent cases the application of the "living connection" — that is, direct appeal to individual Party comrades occupying sufficiently influential positions locally — has proven useful. By this means one achieves a reduction of the inevitable red tape attending the usual departmental procedure, and in general the required impact is increased.

An example can be found in the case concerning the terrorism of a kulak "nest" attached to Soviet power and to the Party in (Novoe) Elanskoe district of Saratov province. Within a 40-day period we succeeded in obtaining from the authorized representative of the VChK in the Volga region, when approached in this "comradely" manner, a reply telegram stating that "all measures for clarifying those responsible have been undertaken." Such are the results in other cases as well.

But it is possible to develop the application of this method only with sufficient familiarity with the actual composition of responsible workers locally. Therefore we request that you urgently compile and send to the address of the reception office of the Council of People's Commissars, Vozdvizhenka 4, appropriate lists of especially suitable, in your opinion, reliable comrades with good service records for this sort of "pressure" — 1 to 2 per province — from among members of executive committees, provincial Cheka offices, etc.

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars V. Ulyanov (Lenin).

P.S. Complete guarantee of the conscientiousness of such comrades is necessary, namely: a detailed service record, both Party and Soviet, as complete as possible, and personal vouching for absolute honesty on the part of several old Party members.

V. Ulyanov (Lenin).*

*Printed from a typewritten copy; signature in Lenin's own hand. In the archive of the Institute of Marx-Engels-Lenin-Stalin, file no. 28954, there is an analogous letter bearing Lenin's signature, circulated "to 7 comrades by the direction of V.I." — *Editor's note.